Hana: Heaven on Earth

As I posted HERE, this past January we spent two weeks in Hawaii. Our first week was on Kona or The Big Island.  After that great week, we flew over to Maui. We had been here on our honeymoon in 2008 and our favorite place there was Hana.

Driving the “Road to Hana” is a must-do activity when visiting Maui. The road takes about three hours to drive. There are over 600 twists and turns and 56 one-lane bridges along this paved road. When we took this road in 2008 it was raining the whole way. But because of that, the waterfalls along the route were spectacular that we didn’t mind the rain. We decided that when we returned to Maui, instead of just making the drive, we’d stay in Hana for a few days. On this trip we stayed there four perfect days.

After landing in the airport and purchasing food for our stay in Hana at Down to Earth and Whole Foods, we headed on our way. Because we were not stopping and gawking at every sight along the road, we made it to Hana in two and a half hours.

We stayed at Hana Kai Maui in a lovely one bedroom. As we unlocked our door, we walked onto our lanai and saw this!

Then we unlocked the door to our home for the next four days.

We usually like to cook when we travel, so this unit had a full kitchen. It was perfect even though it didn’t have a dishwasher!

But our favorite part – well, one of our favorite parts – was the shower! I took pictures and even measurements if we might ever want to recreate this at  home.

This condo also had a nice bedroom. But that was just the beginning. Now that we had a great place to land, it’s time to explore.

While in Hana we visited the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. This is a beautiful place and we almost had the gardens to ourselves. I love how they had most everything labeled.

And these huge Elephant Ears.

Wauke stems are the main source for Kapa or bark cloth.

I really love those leaves with their interesting patterns and would like to make something in cloth based on their design.

Of course, we had to shop at the local markets.

But my favorite place was the Bamboo Forest,  located in Haleakala National Park. It was a short drive from where we stayed, but to reach the actual forest it was an hour and a half walk.

I made a short video to remember this beautiful place so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s amazing how quiet it was except for the sound of bamboo knocking against each other.

I get so inspired when we visit beautiful places. I’ve not started on this project, but here was the beginning of my thoughts on a wall hanging. Puddin was helping me.

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to blog about this wonderful place. It’s nice to revisit it after all these months.